Near Field Communication, abbreviated “NFC”, is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology enabling exchange of data between devices within a relative short distance, for instance, about 10 centimeters. NFC is based on RFID (radio frequency identification) and combines an interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. NFC devices can communicate with RFID readers and with other NFC devices and may, for instance, be mobile phones.
Business opportunities presented by using NFC enabled mobile devices, such as mobile phones, for, for instance, contactless payment, transport ticketing, loyalty and other services may be of interest, for instance, for mobile operators and service providers in the banking, transport and retail sectors.
For addressing operational requirements, NFC utilizes a so called Trusted Service Manger (TSM) which is supposed to help service providers to securely distribute and manage, for instance, contactless services for their customers utilizing networks of mobile operators. FIG. 1 illustrates how a Trusted Service Manager Backend 1 is conventionally used to transmit an NFC application 9 issued by a Service Provider Backend 2 (service provider web site) to a mobile telephone 3 comprising NFC capability.
If the service provider wants to issue the NFC application 9 to the mobile phone 3, he connects his Service Provider Backend 2 to the mobile phone 3 through the Trusted Service Manager Backend 1. The Trusted Service Manager Backend 1 establishes a secure channel to transmit the NFC application 9 over the air OTA to the mobile phone 3 which includes an appropriate interface which is, for instance, a GSM interface not explicitly shown in the figures.
The mobile phone 3 comprises a proxy 4, a secure application 5, also known as “wallet” or trusted application, to present information about NFC applications already installed on the mobile phone 3 to the user of the mobile phone 3, an NFC module including a Service Manager 6 and a memory 7 to store the NFC application. The secure application 5 is also responsible to allow the user to top-up applications, for instance, to request to reload an NFC application. If, for instance, the NFC application is associated with an e-purse, the request may, for instance, be a request to reload money on this e-purse.
Top-up information is located in the secure application 5 (wallet) itself. Top-up information is proprietary formatted information. Therefore, if a new NFC application is issued to the mobile phone 3 by a new service provider, the user has to install an up-dated version of his/her wallet including top-up information for this new NFC application.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved method to top-up information particularly usable by wallets.